Christmas in the Park welcomes new additions

Ducks swim in the reflection on the water in front of the nativity scene made of lights at Christmas in the Park in Cuero.

There are just a few times a year when dragons and elves come to life at the park. They're not magical or imaginary. Instead, they are part of Cuero's Christmas in the Park.

For more than a decade, the Cuero Development Corporation has put together the Christmas in the Park event at Cuero's Municipal Park.

Kay Lewis, one of the founders and president of CDC's Christmas in the Park, said the park will have about 185 lighted scenes on display. This year, there will be 12 new scenes and a 32-foot-tall lighted sculpture tree added to the event.

"We start putting things up the week before Turkeyfest," she said. "After Turkeyfest, we'll be going full force."

During Cuero's celebrated turkey race, the lighted American flag scene, complete with animated fireworks, stood 40 feet tall at the south end of the lake.

On Nov. 19, the park will open for self-guided tours and run through the New Year's Day.

Lewis and a few friends started the tradition about 12 years ago when they put lights on a handful of trees and the park's gazebo. Since the lights were a big hit with the community, the tradition carried on and grew from there.

"There are so many things to see, (such as) the live nativity, and the first Thursday of December, we'll have blue Santa out there," she said.

Over the course of the month and a half that the lighted scenes and wood cutouts are on display in the park, the group tallied about 21,000 cars last year that drove through the park's winding road to see all the lights.

"That first night is always fun," she said. "We get to see all the kids get excited."

Lewis said her favorite scene continues to be the archway at the end of the tour but only until she sees something else she likes.

"It might be the sculpture," she said. Without the lights illuminated, the tree will look white. At night, with all 12,530 lights, it will appear gold.

The sculpture is on display outside the library in downtown Cuero and is just a short drive from the park where visitors will drive under Lewis' favorite scene.